Kingdom Hearts: A New Keyblade
by Crimson Death 13
Summary: Several years after Sora's adventure, a new keyblade rises along with the growing darkness that threatens to take over the worlds while they are in an unsuspecting peace.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note: This is the sequel to the current Kingdom Hearts series. Taking place several years after the events of Kingdom Hearts III (Even though I don't know what's going to happen yet.) Please tell me if you like it or not. I need some reviews if I want to continue the story. No point in writing something that people don't like right? Please review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that is recognizable from Kingdom Hearts.

Epilogue:

The worlds had finally returned back to the peace they were once in long ago. Darkness and light seemed to disappear from existence, allowing the feud between them to vanish. One can not truly exist without the other.

Sora and Kiari grew up and began their own lives, along with Riku and all the others. Any threat of darkness or nothingness didn't exist, and the legends of the battles between darkness and light began to fade until all that were left were unbelievable stories.

However, trouble stirs within the shadows of this new existence and quietly plots to overtake the now venerable worlds. It is time for a new hero to arise. One given the very fate of all worlds, and the key to wield such power.

* * *

There was nothing but darkness surrounding me when I awoke. I was floating. I right myself up and my feet search for ground. I float down and find a surface to stand on. It was warm and comfortable here. The air was slightly humid and had a slight damp feeling to it.

I look around me to find nothing but a dark plain. Absolute darkness. I sigh and sit down contemplating how I could have ended up here. I hear a light sound of footsteps and turn around to see a cloaked figure approach. He wasn't there before, so how did he get here?

His black clock swayed only inches above the ground as he walked. His hood was drawn over his face so I couldn't see who it was. I stand up as he got closer.

He stops a few feet in front of me. He doesn't speak, "Who are you?" I ask hesitantly. I receive no reply. The figure holds out its hand to me. Anxious to see who it was I reach out and brush my fingertips against it's. The hand lunges out in an attempt to take it but I pull my hand away quickly and take slow steps back.

The figure mirrors my steps as it comes closer. I see a faint glow hit its chest and turn around to face a small light. The figure comes closer and I run towards the light and disappear, escaping from the mysterious being.

* * *

I wake up from the dream suddenly in the middle of the night. The summer air was hot and humid making it hard to breathe. I fell asleep in my cloths again. I look out the window next to my bed as a storm stirred in the distance. Feeling less sleepy I open the window and slip out silently onto a branch just out side it.

The night was quiet, with no noise but the light crunch of my feet over the dry grass in our yard or over the gravel roads. The moon wasn't visible through the clouds, but still made some clouds glow a milky white or grayish color. The fields of crops surrounding the roads swayed in the slight breeze making it feel like I was in the middle of a stormy sea.

After a small distance of walking I found my destination. A large tree that stood in the middle of a grassy field whose branches spread widely giving it a slight mushroom shape. The branches supported the various wooden planks and platforms that me and my friends had built there. At the highest point in the tree was a small platform with stairs that lead down the base to the small house and then to the ground. It was a tree house of dreams that we shared.

I jump over the low, mangled barbed wire fence that surrounded the field for almost no purpose but to display property boundaries. I walk up the steep stairs to the first platform surrounded by branches that make great shade. Then onto the next that gave a small view of the western horizon. The next stop was the small house that we usually hung out on days off of school or work. My favorite place was the top platform.

This place rose above the branches giving me a perfect view of the western horizon and the sunset. None of the others ever found interest in watching it, but it was my favorite thing to do. Everyday it was the same sun, but always seemed different. It almost gave me a sense of freedom from this place.

Even though it was my home where I had lived all my life, I couldn't wait to get out of here. This place to me is a hell that I can't escape from. Being trapped in this place is the worst of nightmares I could think of. I want to see what else is out there beyond this small town.

I take a seat at the edge of the platform, allowing my feet to dangle. I watch the storm in the distance. Lighting flashes give the brief sight of the odd shaped clouds. The wind picks up and rustles the leaves of the tree. I feel the platform begin to sway. I push a strand of my black hair out of my face and watch the storm. In several minutes it was right above me. I stand and look into the center of a large looming cloud.

"Thought you'd be here, Thora" a familiar voice calls from behind me. I whip around and see my friend James. He jumps slightly startled at my urgency to see who it was, I let out a breath in relief. "Expecting someone else?"

"No, you just scared me," I say still a little weary of the strange dream that I had.

He sits down next to me. "Cool storm right," he says.

"Yeah. How did you know I was out here?" I ask.

"Well if you were awake, I know you wouldn't have missed it." He says, "I was going to come out here anyway."

In the distance the sky blurs as the mist of rain spreads over the field. "I'd rather not stay to get wet so let hurry up and get out of here!" I say standing up and taking off down the stairs, James not to far behind me. Of course we couldn't out run the rain. I cautiously step over the fence now dripping wet.

James and I run back to his house that was closer to the tree than mine. We run up the cracked side walk up the steps to the wooden porch out of the rain. I wring out the end of my dark-blue T-shirt and hair. James brushes out the remaining beads of water out of his blond hair.

"Well that was fun," he mumbles.

"I didn't ask you to go out there, remember. You did that on your own." I say sitting down on the swinging bench that hung from the porch roof. James disappears into the house for a moment and comes back out with two towels and we dry ourselves off.

"Why were you out there anyway? It's pretty late, for you at least."

"What? You don't think I could be a night owl?" I ask holding back a bit of laughter.

"No, I don't think you are. So, why?" he asks.

I finish shaking out my hair, and meet his eyes. "Bad dreams," I mutter in a barely audible whisper. James bites his lip and his face peels into a smile. "What's so funny?!" I snap at him.

"Thora, the most fearless person I know, is having bad dreams." He says holding back his laughter.

"Shut up!" I say throwing the towel at his face. He ducks and allows the towel to fly off the porch. I lean over to look around him. The rain was now barely coming down and looked more like a light mist.

"Want me to drive you home?" he asks.

"You don't have the age, license, or car. I think I'll just walk." I say stepping off the porch letting the now light rain cool my face.

"So," James says. "As long as I don't get caught we have nothing to worry about." He says.

I begin to walk down the cracked sidewalk, waving a hand behind me as I do. "See you tomorrow," I hear him begin to speak again, "Tomorrow!" I say more sternly and disappear out of his sight.

I walk in the middle of the gravel road watching the larger rocks roll as I sweep my feet over top of them. _So much for drying off_, I think as I walk. I hear foot steps behind me; I was pretty far from James' house now, why would he follow?

"James, what are you…" I trail off at the sight of the strange figure. The same one from my dreams. "Who… Who are you?" I ask. Once again I don't get a reply. "Hey! I'm talkin' to you!" I say getting frustrated. My anger, thankfully, hides my fear.

The figure holds out his hand. I take a step back wanting to run. From his hand, what looks like a dark cloud forms. It slowly grows and spreads. I take another step back.

"What are you doing?!" I shout.

The cloud spreads out in front of him and small creatures form, a lot of them. One of them lunges for me. I run as fast as I could away from him and those creatures. I only get a short distance when I run into him again. The creatures come up behind me and I am out of places to go.

"What do you want?" I ask trying to keep my voice from quivering. I am almost never afraid, but there is something about this person that sets me off. My heart pounds in my chest.

The figure points behind me. I turn around just as one of the creatures hits me. I fall backwards to the ground. I feel pain all over. My eyes are still barely open, I watch as the creatures vanish. The figure walks around in front of me. I struggle to stay awake. At last my eyes slide shut and I go unconscious. Even my sleep is taunted by my fear for this person.

* * *

What would happen if I took its hand? If I had followed it to where ever it wanted to take me. Listen to what ever it had to eventually say. Why all of a sudden was this happening? What is going to happen to me now?


	2. Chapter 2

When I woke up I was back in my room. The sun shone through the open window. I found myself, surprisingly, dry. I hold my head that was pounding like a drum. A large bruise stained the skin in the corner of my forehead. I cover it up with my bangs and get out of bed. Muddy footsteps lead from my window to my bed. I examine the bottom of my shoe which happened to be the same pattern.

_Maybe I hit my head on a branch and don't remember it. But who was that figure? Did he even exist at all?_ All of it made my head hurt more so I deicide to just not think about it. I should go find James.

I stomp out of my room, down the stairs, and out the door of our little grey house. It was a ten minute walk from my house to town where I know I would find James. Instead I run, afraid that if it wasn't just a dream, I would run into that figure again. After a short time I step onto the concrete streets of town. I take a minute to catch my breath and look around.

The town was small, home to only about five hundred people. Main Street was full of small businesses from a café, to bakery, to woodshop, where James worked to earn extra money.

I walk in the door of the woodshop that smelled sweet with sawdust and woodchips. I walk past the inventory for sale to the back room where I found James and Kyle working on a wooden table. Sawdust covered their shirts and hair. Kyle looks up as I walk in and smiles.

"You don't have permission to be back here," he says returning his gaze to carving patterns on the table.

"I don't expect to get any." I say. "I need to talk to you,"

James sets down the chisel and follows me into the shop. "What is it, Thora?" he asks.

"I went to your house with you after it started to rain, right?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says confused at the question.

"Did you follow me back to my house or something?"

"No, why? Did you see someone or something?" he asks raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! But I don't know who. He had these creatures or something like that that attacked me!" I say getting frustrated by just thinking about it. James looks at me in disbelief. "You don't believe me!"

"Maybe they were just bad dreams or something," he says.

"Ha! Thora's going crazy!" I hear Kyle say from behind the door to the back. I walk up to the door and kick in causing Kyle to fly backwards and hit his head against the table they were working on.

"Shut up, pest! It's none of your business anyway."

He rubs his sore head "Well James is missing out on his business, so leave us alone to work crazy lady!" I lunge at him and he flinches and hides behind the table.

"Listen Thora," James says in a calm voice, "Go home and rest. I have work to do here."

"I am not crazy!" I yell at him.

"I never said you were," he says disappearing behind the door.

I stomp my foot on the floor flustered. I walk out of the woodshop and walk a short distance to the park. I sit down on the bench and lean over hiding my face in my hands. I'm tired and confused, and now scared.

The bench shifts as someone else takes a seat next to me. I look at them startled only to find it being Isabel. She has that usual smile on her face, "What's wrong?" she asks.

I sigh and hide my face in my hand again. I wasn't about to recite my story to her. "Nothing," I say. She bumps my shoulder with her knuckle and holds out a purple flower. I take it and spin it around my fingers.

"You're a bad liar," she says.

"Or am I really a good one. I could be lying to make you think I am lying to get sympathy from you. If that is the case than I am the best liar in the world." I say. She tilts her head. "That was a joke," I add.

She shrugs "Not very good at telling jokes either," she says.

"Depends on the crowd," I say. "What have you been doing?"

She holds out the small bouquet of flowers, "Picking flowers in the fields. What have _you_ been doing?" she asks.

"Killing them," I say and give her devious smile. Her eyes widen, "That was another joke. A dark joke."

"Still not very good," she says.

"Kill joy," I mumble to the flower.

Isabel hops off the bench, "I'm going to the café. Want to come with?"

"Sure," I say standing up and following her down the road, picking up flowers that she dropped along the way. By the time we got to the café, she was holding five flowers while I had collected the rest of the bouquet. Isabel definitely was cheery. Cheery and clumsy.

I set the bouquet down on the table and sat across from her. She began to take about her summer and how her lemon-aid stand was going. I zoned out after about a minute into my own thoughts. Cheery, clumsy, and chatty, I thought. I get lost in thought staring at the bouquet of flowers.

The dark figure comes to mind. It felt like I was standing in the darkness again. I reached out to him and took his hand. Then those creatures appeared and attacked me. I was sent spiraling down into the darkness. Eaten by the shadows and vanishing from existence.

"Thora?" Isabel says slowly bringing me out of my daydream. "Thora?" she says in a singsong voice and shakes me hand at last pulling me completely out of my thoughts.

"W-what?" I ask her now fully aware and slightly alarmed.

She giggles, "You were daydreaming silly"

"Sorry," I say looking down at my hands that had now crushed the flower I had given. I hold it up from the weak stem. The flower droops and a petal or two falls from the head.

"Aw. You have been killing flowers haven't you," Isabel says replacing the flower in my hand with one that was light blue. "Cheer up a little bit. There is nothing that you can't handle."

"Thanks," I say as she disappears out of the café. That was a lie. There are a lot of things I couldn't handle. They all look up to me for my courage and bravery. It's kind of hard to not have very much courage because the only thing to really be afraid of here is a pop quiz in science class.

I walk home after a day of just walking around town. I stare down at the flower that I was given. Light blue, almost like the sky. It still stood out against my paper white skin. I get home and slip into my room without a sound. I peer out the window to see the sun almost starting to set.

I slip on my leather jacket and tuck my pocket knife into my jeans. If I were to run into that person again, at least I would have a weapon…ish. I slip out the window just for kicks and hop off the branch and land on the ground. I smirk at the thought of how good at that I was, then take off down the road to the tree house.

I get up to the top platform just as the sun began to set. I sit down and watch as the world around me turns a light shade of red. I close my eyes and feel the last amount of warmth it has to provide world before vanishing.

"You are the chosen one," a strange voice says behind me. I reach into my pocket and grab the knife and turn around to face them. My knife is knocked out of my hand and falls off the platform down to the earth.

Now defenseless I stare at the being. "What do you want from me?" I ask my voice quivering.

"You have been chosen to fight the darkness. You are the chosen wielder." It says. I know now it is a guy beneath that hood.

I choke down the knot in my throat. "What do you mean, darkness? Wielder of what?" I ask my voice shaky. My knees feel as if they were about to give up and I was about to collapse to the ground.

The figure holds out his hand again. _Is this a dream?_ His black cloak stood out against the canvas of red and orange colors in the sky. I reach out and touch my finger tips against theirs. My heart was about to beat out of my chest. Startled I pull my hand back.

I feel pain in my palm as a ball of light emerges from my skin. It hurts, badly. I drop to my knees holding onto my wrist. I scream, it feels like my skin is being pulled apart. Then it all stops and my hand grips around an object.

It was a key. A very, very big key. The metal around the handle was a bright yellow color surrounding the rubber grip. The rest was silver and the end took the shape of a crown. I stand up and hold up the amazingly light key. A small chain dangles from the handle.

"The Keyblade," the man says pointing to it. "It holds great power."

"And you want this thing?" I ask holding it up in front of me.

"No," he says, "Only the chosen can wield the keyblade."

"Wait! So you want me!" I ask backing away as far as I could away from him.

"I want you to come with me so you can know what you must do." He says holding out a hand next to him. Out of thin air, what looks like a dark portal emerges. "Come with me," he insists.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I say, "I didn't ask for this. I don't even know what the hell you are talking about. Find yourself some other keyblade wielder. Cause I didn't sign up for this."

The blade disappears in a flash of light. The man walks up to me and catches the back of my jacket. He lifts me up in the air and walks towards the portal thing. I thrash and try to get him to let go of me.

"Let me down damn it!" I scream kicking at the air. He pushes me into the portal and I black out.


	3. Chapter 3

When I wake up I am laying in bed. My head hurts even more than it had previously. I look around the room. There was a large bookcase that took up the entire wall surrounding a curved door. The ceiling was high and met a point like I was in some sort of tower.

I stand up and hold out my hand. I think of the keyblade, I close my eyes and concentrate. Nothing happens. I walk over to the door and hear voices coming from the other side. Three of them were there, one I recognized as the man who took me here.

I open the door and peek out into the next room. There was a desk on the other side with a large bearded man sitting behind it, his face wrinkled and hair gray with age. The other to my surprise wasn't really a man at all, it was a mouse. Then the third of course was the cloaked man.

I open the door all the way and step out. They all look at me and I begin to feel very nervous. "She lives!" the cloaked figure says in an oddly cheery voice.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"Yen Sid's tower," he says. I look at the large bearded man whose eyes were without color.

"I've had enough with this mysterious crud! Who are you?" I nearly shout at him.

He pulls down his hood to reveal his face. His hair was long and silver, but he was still fairly young. His eyes were bright blue like the flower Isabel had given me, the color of the sky. "Riku," he says.

I tilt my head at him. "And what do you want with me?"

"We want you to help us." He says.

"But I don't know anything about darkness or the keyblade or whatever." I protest.

The small mouse walks up to me. "That is why we are going to teach you how to use the keyblade. It is an instrument of light that is used to defeat darkness and open paths to new worlds."

"New worlds?" I ask.

"There are other worlds out there than your little one," Riku says with an absent wave of a hand. "You'll be able to see them all if you want."

"And I don't know how to fight," I say. "I don't think I am qualified for the job."

"That is why we are going to teach you," Riku says. "She is a lot more stubborn than Sora uses to be."

"Sora?"

"He was the pervious keyblade master."

"Than why don't you just get him?" I say.

"Because he grew up. He doesn't have the power to wield the keyblade anymore. Nor do I, other wise we wouldn't need you here. You're one of the only keyblade wielders left out there, and we need all the help we can get." Riku says. "There is no way your getting out of this now so you're going to have to deal and cooperate with us."

I clench my fist, "Or what,"

He summons a strange-looking blade that looked like a red and black wing. The keyblade appears in my hand. It rises on its own and points itself at Riku. He smiles and allows his blade to disappear.

My keyblade disappears. "Why does it do that?" I ask.

"It's protecting its wielder." The mouse says.

"And who might you be?" I ask.

"My name is King Mickey." He says.

"You said wielders. Are there others out there?" I ask.

"Three as far as we know of. There may be others out there that we don't know about yet. You may run into them along the way." Riku says.

"The way where?"

"Around the worlds. Of course that is after we teach you how to use the keyblade."

I hold out my hand and image the keyblade there. Slowly the light begins to form. It still hurts a little. I give up and let the light vanish. Riku raises an eyebrow at me. I feel as if I disappointed him in someway.

"I think that will be lesson one." He says walking towards the door. "Coming?"

I hurry up to him and follow him out the door and walk down the large stair case in the tower. Surround the stairs stars and balls of lightly colored float around like magic. I look forward and see Riku hadn't slowed down to look at the floating objects like I had.

I rush up behind him again. "You said that you were a keyblade wielder." I say.

"Me and Sora. Though he took to the light while I remained in darkness." He says.

"I thought darkness was a bad thing?"

"Depends on how you use its power. People can become easily corrupted by darkness, same with light."

"Do you know who the other three are out there?" I ask.

"One we don't know who they are. The others name is Axel, though he prefers to be called Lea, now." He says. "You see Axel used to be a nobody and part of Organization XIII. They were a large group of higher class nobodies who tried to take over Kingdom Hearts." He looks at me to see if I were listening. I stare up blankly at him, not knowing at all about what he was talking about. "A nobody is a being without a heart. They can't feel emotions. So they went around destroying these creatures called heartless to collect hearts. Those heartless when slain by the keyblade release those hearts, that grow to make Kingdom Hearts. When Kingdom Hearts was finished it was supposed to give the nobodies their hearts."

"That is a lot of hearts," I say. "So the made Kingdom Hearts and got theirs back?"

"No. Kingdom Hearts was destroyed because the leader of the nobodies and Organization XIII was trying to gain power over all the worlds. Me and Sora had to destroy it. The nobodies died but were reunited with their hearts and came back as somebodies again." Riku explains.

"How did they become nobodies?" I ask almost starting to get the story straight.

"Because when they were somebodies before, they turned to heartless. When a heartless is made so is a nobody. They are the empty shells left behind from what they used to be." Riku finishes.

I wanted to ask a lot more but we finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Riku opens the door and walks outside. My jaw drops when I get out side. We were in the middle of nowhere, literally. I walked over to the edge of the where the ground ended and peer over. There was nothing but an orange-colored sky and abyss.

When I turn around to see Riku pointing his weapon at me. My keyblade summons itself. "What are you doing?" I ask.

"Do you want to know how to use the keyblade?" he asks not removing his weapon from my direction.

"Uh, yes." I say.

He comes for me, I raise my keyblade to block his attack. My knees bend under the pressure. I lift my blade back up and push him away. Riku jumps back but not soon after comes after me again. I duck out of the way of one attack, but he hits me in the shoulder with his fist. I stumble backwards a little bit, wincing at the pain caused. I grip onto the keyblade with both hands and run after him. He dodges my strike and hits me again, this time in my side.

"I thought I was supposed to learn, not get beat up." I say trying to remain standing.

"Have to learn to handle pain too," he says.

"What about those other things I saw earlier?"

"Heartless? Want to fight them instead?" he doesn't wait for my reply. He summons more of those creatures, they surround me.

"I meant one!" I yell at him.

He turns around and ignores my comment. One creature lunges for me. I close my eyes and swing my keyblade. The creature falls backwards and fades into a cloud of darkness. A crystal heart figure floats into the air and then fades in a flash of light. I look back to the rest of the creatures waiting for another on to attack.

After several minutes all the creatures disappeared and the final heart fades into the sky. I fall backwards onto the ground, breathing hard. Riku claps his hands, a smile plastered on his face. "Well done,"

"You couldn't have made it a little easier?" I ask him between breaths. My keyblade had faded. I hold out my hand and focus. The light grows in my palm and not soon after the keyblade pops into my hand. "Huh,"

"Your getting better, sort of. At least making some progress." Riku says lifting me up off the ground. I let my keyblade disappear.

We walk back up the stair case in the tower, "What is it like in other worlds?"

"They're different to say the least. Not one is the same as the another. You won't get bored, trust me," he says.

"When am I going?" I ask him almost fearing the answer.

"Tomorrow," Riku says plainly.

My eyes widen in surprise, "Tomorrow!" I repeat. Riku looks at me to confirm this. "But I barely know how to fight or use the key blade at all!" I say.

"I'll be going with you," he says.

That really doesn't help to settle my nerves. We walk the rest of the way in silence. When I get to the door I spot a chair set by the desk across from the bearded man. A large book occupies the space in front of it. The book was blue with gold colored stars and a moon crest painted over the cover along with a gold binding. The corners were worn with age and some pages didn't seem to match the rest, showing that it has been added too and used frequently.

I sit down in the large wooden chair and trace my fingers over the moon crest. "This book contains information on heartless, nobodies, and other enemies you might face along the way." the large bearded man says, his colorless eyes seeming to pierce right through me.

"And now I am going to get schooled." I mumble. Riku thumps me in the back of the head, a signal to shut up.

"Study the book. Learn as much as you can about the foes you will face. It will help as you continue to learn more about the keyblade." the man says. I take the book of the table and lean back in my chair resting the book across my raised knee. I flip through the pages to examine their contents real quick. Various sketches and drawing flash past as I skim back to the first page. I take a deep breath and begin to read.

* * *

I feel asleep in my chair after hours of reading, my head on the desk over the book. I had made it about three fourths through the entire book by night fall. Riku pulls me out of my chair and carries me into the bedroom and lays me down to sleep. I dream of those creatures, heartless. Then about the others worlds. What mysteries and adventures they could possibly hold.


End file.
